- Oswego Speedway
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The Oswego Speedway (nicknamed "The Steel Palace") is a race track in Oswego, New York. It was built in 1951 and today is an asphalt race track. The track is the Labor Day Weekend home of the 200-lap, non-wing, big-block supermodified Budweiser Classic and Race of Champions (a modified touring series event). Oswego Speedway also hosts a special wing week, where they put big wings on the usually non-wing cars to make them go faster.
The track is located at 300 East Albany Street, Oswego, NY 13126, about 35 miles northwest of Syracuse on State Highways 481 and 104; telephone 315-342-0646. The facility has covered and uncovered grandstands on the north side, as well as uncovered grandstands the south. Total seating is =/- 10,000.
Unpaved, open-field parking is available on both sides of Albany Street to the north and east of the "oval" track surface. (It is not truly an oval, but is more of a "four-corner" track. Banking is about thirteen degrees.)
Owned and operated for more than four decades by the Caruso family, the "Big O" is now owned and operated by Eric and John Torrese. Greg Furlong has won the Labor Day Weekend event six times since 1999, and has finished on the podium on two other occasions. Famed Indianapolis 500 drivers Davey Hamilton, Bentley Warren and Joe Gosek are all Budweiser Classic winners.
Warren won the Budweiser Classic six times from 1969 through 1998, as well as winning the ISMA-sanctioned, winged supermodified event in 1994 and 2006 (at the age of 66). Bentley continues to actively race supermodifieds at Oswego and across the Northeast and will turn 70 this year.
The modern supermodified car is a front-engine / rear-drive vehicle with a truck-block engine mounted on the left side of the chassis to maximize kinetic force for left turns on the 5/8-mile, asphalt track. The normally aspirated, fuel-injected engines make 900 or more horsepower, or one horsepower or more for each two pounds of weight (1800-lb. minimum). Save for the roll cage extension, the cars may be no more than 36 inches high. Most cars have wedge-shaped bodywork to provide downforce. The fastest cars are capable of circling the track in less than 16.5 seconds, averaging better than 136 miles per hour in the process.
Oswego Speedway Supermodified class track champions have included multi-time champs Nolan Swift (eight times, 1953–71), Bentley Warren (seven times, 1983–93), Jim Shampine (seven times, 1967–79), Greg Furlong (four times, 2000–07), Eddie Bellinger, Sr. (three times, 1957–60), and Doug Didero (three times, 1994–96).
Other classes running regularly at Oswego Speedway during the season that extends from April through September include the Oswego Speedway Small Block Supermodifieds, DART Asphalt Modified Tour cars, Buckeye Super (winged asphalt) Sprint Cars. The track also hosts the International Supermodified Association winged supermodifieds and Midwest Supermodified Association supermodifieds. Some Whelen Modified drivers occasionally race at Oswego. Matt Hirchman, his father Tony, Zane Zeiner, and Bryon Chew are just some of them.
Some Race of Champions winners have made it to the big time NASCAR series'. Ex: Brett Bodine, Geoff Bodine, Richie Evans, Brian Ross, Greg Sacks, Frankie Schneider, and Jimmy Spencer. Three time supermodified champ Otto Sitterly finished fourth in the standings in 2011 behind Joe Gosek (1st), Randy Ritskes (2nd), and Dave Mcknight (3rd). Mike Bond won the SBS championship.
(The fastest drivers from the latter two groups are capable of lapping the track in the mid-15-second range at almost 150 miles per hour, generating gravity forces of 4.0 and up.)
External links
Sources
50th (2006) and 52nd (2008) Budweiser International Classic official programs.
Coordinates: 43°27′26″N 76°28′55″W / 43.45722°N 76.48194°W
Categories:- Motorsport venues in New York
- Sports venues in Oswego County, New York
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